Flattery Will Get You Somewhere

If by "somewhere" you mean "something I can read on Anne's blog".

Some wise man once said a blog is a little seed. It may lie dormant for many years, but its sleep, nestled in the nutrients of the earth, may in time send up a probing white neck, noodling back to the sunshine.

Okay, no wise man ever said that. What kind of a wise man uses "noodle" as a verb? But this blog has noodled its way back. After Taiwan, a "life and times in St. Louis" blog would have been anticlimactic (in my estimation), plus there was no time.

Now Open Epistle is different. I won't be posting diverting pictures or unfolding anecdotes as in a journal. I'll be writing earnest fiction, though, of course, you may hear echoes of stories or characters from my life if you know me. Since (I assume) you're here to read, I can leave off the self-criticism and get down to business and the whole arrangement works out just as it was intended. Simply having a reader, real or imagined, ramps up my ambition that much more.